Louder AAA
Today Dream Theater are known for the intensity of their well-planned, polished and focused shows. But in 2014 band biographer and Prog writer Rich Wilson unearthed some examples of the band’s early live performance issues – demonstrating the challenges and hard lessons that need to be learned, and the personnel changes that may need to be made, before a truly mindblowing performance can be delivered.
Horror shorts
Prior to Dream Theater releasing debut album When Dream And Day Unite, they were known as Majesty, and spent much of their time rehearsing in the basement of a hair salon. Below is a recording of one of those sessions, capturing Mike Portnoy wearing some alarming shorts, and then-singer Charlie Dominici jumping in and out of shot with pixie boots on his feet. Predictably, the ever-silent John Myung doesn’t say a word during the meet-the-band session.
A curious sense of humour
The dynamics of the band were pretty interesting at this time, as can be seen on this video, which consists of a short Q&A followed by a live performance of The Ytse Jam from Dream And Day. Then-keyboardist Kevin Moore was a central force, and possessed a dry sense of humour, here suggesting that the track was named after a “traffic situation in India…”
Like Billy Joel singing for Queensrÿche
Dominici would leave Dream Theater shortly after the album’s release, after the band had decided that he wasn’t quite the perfect fit – especially when playing live. As Portnoy explained, “It was like having Billy Joel try to sing with Queensrÿche or Iron Maiden. It just didn’t work.” That might sound harsh, but this rare footage certainly demonstrates what he means… Dad dancing?
And the guitarist played on (mostly)
Mind you, there were other mishaps to affect the band during those early live dates. Here, John Petrucci somehow manages to plummet from the stage into the crowd at the beginning of his solo. Ever the true pro, he quickly hops back on the stage without needing the help of the roadies who were sprinting to his aid. Indeed, a break in the solo and a touch of feedback aside, he covered up the incident pretty well.
Reunion blues
Dream Theater’s early line-line up reunited (with the exception of Moore) to perform When Dream And Day Unite in 2004. With Jordan Rudess never having met Charlie Dominici before that night, he later admitted that when talking to the singer, he had no idea who he was. “I thought he was one of our drivers or something!”
With Dominici having stayed away from music for 15 years, he certainly no longer had the look of a rock star – as that night’s performance of Metropolis shows.
